Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader on Saturday said the government is able to keep militancy and terrorism under control.
“We could not root out militancy and terrorism from the country but it is under control with the help of common people,” he told newsmen, at Holey Artisan cafe in Gulshan.
Quader, Minister for Road Transport and Bridges, accompanied by Awami League Joint General Secretaries Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif and Jahangir Kabir Nanak had been there to pay tributes to the victims of last year’s Holey Artisan cafe‚ attack. They also placed floral wreaths there.
The minister said, “If the government gets cooperation from all, it would be able to root out militancy and terrorism.”
Meanwhile, Ambassador of Japan Masato Watanabe, Ambassador of Italy Giorgio Guglielmino and representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) visited Holey Artisan and paid tributes to the victims of the terrible attack.
Associate bodies of ruling Awami League also paid tributes to the victims of the cafe attack.
Talking to BSS, Inspector General of Police (IGP) AKM Shahidul Hoque said the government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is committed to root out militancy and terrorism from the country.
“Militant outfits have not enough organizational capacity to carry out attacks in large scale. They are now afraid of the intensified intelligence vigilance. Our law enforcers have been conducting drive against militancy across the country to keep it under control. They are now afraid of the intensified intelligence vigilance,” he said.
The IGP said police also arrested many of them, but their activities are yet to be completely stopped, adding that four police personnel including two officers sacrificed their lives during the anti-militant campaign at Gulshan on July 1, 2016.
As many as 30 people — including 22 foreigners, two police officers, five attackers and one bakery staff member– were killed in the attack on July 1, 2016. The hostage crisis that followed ended early next morning after the operation ‘Thunderbolt’ conducted by a team of the 1st Para-commando Battalion of the Bangladesh Army with the help of members of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit (CTTCU) and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).
